Amber Gris

Amber Gris
Amber Gris, by Tumblr user herbgerblin.
Vital statistics
Title	Captain of the Coriolis
Aliases	The Sharkslayer Kurch Figgums Miss Figgums Klunch Figgins Crump Ruggit The Lady with the Big Bag Four Arm Woman Person Banana Face
Status	Alive
Player	Justin McElroy
Roleplaying characteristics
Class	Monk
Level	7
Gender	Female
Physical characteristics
Age	Mid-forties or older
Eyes	Fish-like, silvery blue

“

Kela sai, guppy.

”

—Amber Gris

Amber Gris (pronounced "Amber Gree") is a player character in The Adventure Zone: Ethersea campaign. She is played by Justin McElroy.

Amber is an older woman who spent her childhood on the shores of the Einarr Plateau in the days before Founders' Wake was formed. She spent some time training with Joshy at Ol’ Joshy’s Training Ground for Psychic Soldiers Against Blink Sharks, and was the only student to actually unlock some kind of psychic ability. She is a monk who ascribes to the Way of the Astral Self.

Before teaming up with Devo and Zoox, she spent most of her time at the Cloaca in Joshy's Knuckle awaiting the "inevitable" return of the blink sharks with her fellow finners.

As of Episode 44, Amber is trapped on the blink sharks' homeworld with Oksana Kodeira, where the blink sharks worship them as gods.

History

Amber spent her youth on the shores of the Einarr Plateau as the community prepared to enter the Ethersea. She was raised by her father, a fisherman, alongside her younger brother Gill. She was close friends with Shret and Kimbra until Kimbra succumbed to the effects of grotto, and was quite fond of Oksana Kodeira.

As a teenager, Amber attended Ol’ Joshy’s Training Ground for Psychic Soldiers Against Blink Sharks, where she discovered her ability to summon her Arms of the Astral Self and gained quite a bit of renown hunting blink sharks.

At some point before the beginning of the campaign, Amber met and joined forces with Devo la Main and Zoox so that the trio could take work from the Blue Span Brokerage together.

Relationships

Devo la Main

Amber, Devo, and Zoox's relationship began as a working one, more allies and coworkers than friends; despite this, they have become closer over time. Devo and Zoox often look to Amber for guidance as though she has the final say on work-related matters. On more than one occasion, they have saved each others' lives.

Despite this, their relationship is often contentious; Amber has a tendency to avoid emotional vulnerability, much to Devo's dismay, and Devo's short temper often gets them in trouble, much to Amber's. Amber is particularly displeased by Devo's tendency to talk down to Ol' Joshy; in Episode 38, they get into a loud argument over Devo's behavior and almost come to physical (and magical) blows. Amber tells Devo that he needs to grow up.

Zoox

Much like her relationship with Devo, Amber and Zoox's relationship began as allies and coworkers. They have since become better friends. Amber appears to be fond of Zoox, although she thinks he is a little naïve. Zoox and Devo often look to Amber for guidance, and seem to feel as though she has the final say on work-related matters.

Ol' Joshy

Amber met Ol' Joshy after joining his aforementioned "school." They are quite close; she refers to him as Uncle Joshy, and appears to admire and respect him quite a bit, although that respect often comes in the form mutually beating each other up (or at least attempting to, on Joshy's part.) She and Ol' Joshy have a running contest regarding who can get the drop on the other more, which they refer to as "vibe checks." Obviously, Amber remains in the lead. (They also have a going tally of how many blink sharks they have each killed; as Amber's number grows, Joshy's remains at zero.)

Amber appears to consider the Cloaca and Joshy's Knuckle her home turf. She often goes to Joshy for advice, leads on information, and occasionally work, and has brunch with their fellow finners every weekend.

Amber has explicitly stated that she values her relationship with Joshy above most others, including her friendship with Devo la Main.

Ballaster Kodeira

Amber and Ballaster Oksana Kodeira are childhood friends. Most notably, when a young Kodeira lost her kaiser blade to the Trash Hole, Amber was the first person Oksana went to for help in retrieving it. Although Amber failed in doing so, it is clear that Kodeira liked and admired her quite a bit.

They were also, at one point, both finners.

As adults, Amber and Kodeira are still friendly. Amber refers to her as "bubba," and the two trade teasing barbs over brunch when Kodeira comes to question Amber over the deaths of two of her Chaperone guards. Despite Amber's admission of guilt, Kodeira does not attempt to take further action against her but instead offers her a job as a Chaperone; it's implied that this is not the first time Kodeira has asked. Amber once again declines, stating that she finds the Biggest Baby "creepy."

Kodeira vouches for Amber (and the Coriolis crew) when they are questioned about the Sallow.

Likewise, when the Hand of Guidance is found dead in her office, Kodeira goes against protocol to give them a chance to investigate on their own, so long as she is kept in the loop. Kodeira comes with them to question Benefactor Orlean, even though Amber doesn't think she can "party."

Amber makes a point to check on Kodeira after they split up while investigating the bleached Brinarr dome.

Later, when Amber leaps through the portal to the blink sharks' homeworld, Coda (who is possessing Kodeira's body) leaps in after her; as a result, they are both left stranded, but Kodeira does not appear to be upset with Amber. They have a heart-to-heart about whether Amber made the right choice by coming here, and later tease each other about becoming the blink sharks' gods.

Shret

Amber says that she, Shret, and their mutual friend Kimbra were "practically raised together." She and Shret grew up on the same street and went to school together. Their relationship appears to have fallen apart after Kimbra succumbed to the effects of the drug grotto; Amber seems to blame Shret for what happened to her. She strongly disapproves of Shret dealing grotto, likely because of this.

Amber reluctantly suggests that she, Devo, Zoox, Ampersand Five, and Finneas Cawl ask Shret for help in recovering Finneas's memories. When they meet again, Shret claims that it's been ten years since they've last spoken.

Physical Appearance

Amber is an older woman in her forties or fifties. She speaks in a soft Southern accent, and is implied to be short, at least in comparison to Devo and Zoox. She claims to have her father's eyes, although after contracting the Sallow, they became enlarged and fish-like with silvery blue irises.^[6]

When she wears her vapor suit, there are tentacle-like bags on the sides of her stomach for her Astral Arms, which are translucent and glow green when summoned.

Amber is giant-sized in comparison to the rest of the life on the blink sharks' homeworld.

Fan Art

Amber Gris, by Reddit user u/Welpart.

Powers and Abilities

Amber is in the midst of rediscovering her abilities, as they have degraded from disuse after a long period of inactivity following the disappearance of the blink sharks. She is a monk following the Way of the Astral Self. Rather than "ki," Amber uses "vibe" to manifest her abilities.

Class Features

• Unarmored Defense: While  Amber is not wearing armor, her AC is 10+ her Dexterity modifier + her Wisdom modifier.
• Vibe: Amber can spend "vibe" to fuel various features, such as Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind.
• Arms of the Astral Self
  • At level three, Amber can summon the arms of her astral self as a bonus action. They manifest as two bioluminescent green arms that protrude from either side of stomach. They are transparent and her "circulatory system" can be seen within.
  • When she does so, each creature of Justin's choice that Amber can see within 10 feet of her must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take force damage equal to two rolls of her Martial Arts die.
  • They can be used to make unarmed strikes, and have a reach five feet longer than normal.
  • Amber can use her Wisdom modifier in place of her Strength modifier when making Strength checks and Strength saving throws. Likewise, the unarmed her she makes with the arms can use her Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls. Their damage type is force.
• Visage of the Astral Self
  • At level 6, Amber can summon the visage of her astral self. As a bonus action, or as part of the bonus action she takes to activate Arms of the Astral Self, she can spend 1 "vibe" to summon this visage for 10 minutes.
  • While the spectral visage is present, she gains the following benefits:
    • Astral Sight. Amber can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.
    • Wisdom of the Spirit. Amber has advantage on Wisdom (Insight) and Charisma (Intimidation) checks.
    • Word of the Spirit. When she speaks, Amber can direct her words to a creature of her choice that she can see within 60 feet of her, making it so only that creature can hear her. Alternatively, she can amplify her voice so that all creatures within 600 feet can hear her.

• When Amber touched the four-armed statue in Episode 39, her own Astral Arms grew in size; her unarmed attacks with the arms now do 1d8 damage.

Trivia

• Amber's name is derived from ambergris, an orange-grey waxy substance produced in the digestive system of sperm whales and used in perfumery.
• Similarly marine, her frequently-used pejorative, "clasper," likely refers to the reproduction-related structures of the same name possessed by sharks and other cartilaginous fish.
• Her avatar at the abyssal auction was an aquamarine blink shark.
• Blink sharks and murder mysteries are two of her only fears.
• After Amber obtained the anomaly inside of the Infinite Clam and put it into her finny pack, it turned it into a Bag of Infinite Holding and became the in-finny-pack. She now calls herself The Lady with the Big Bag and hopes the title will take off. She puts Devo's sadness in the bag in an effort to cheer him up.
• In Episode 36, Zoox speaks with the remaining blink sharks, who tell him that they believe Amber will cause an apocalypse after the "empty stick people" hang her in the sky like a big star, where she will pluck the sun from the sky, boil the seas, and cause the death of their world.